ING Finances 550 Madison Buy with $570M Loan

ING Capital, a part of ING Group, a global financial institution of Dutch origin, announced that it had originated a $570 million loan for the purchase of 550 Madison Avenue in New York City. In a deal that was first reported in April, investor Joseph Chetrit and his partners at Clipper Capital were in contract with Saudi Arabia's Olayan Group to sell the tower at 550 Madison Ave. for between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion. The Olayan Group closed on its $1.4 billion acquisition of the property this month with the $570 million bridge loan from ING. Chetrit originally bought the building in 2013 for $1.1 billion with the intention of turning its upper-floor office space into luxury condos, but the plan never took shape. Morrison & Foerster's real estate group provided legal counsel to ING on the financing, while Shearman & Sterling represented Olayan America.

The 37-story building in the Plaza District of Manhattan, formerly known as the Sony Building (before the electronics giant vacated earlier this year) and originally the AT&T Building, has 852,830 square feet of rentable mixed-use space, including about 776,000 square feet of office space. With one restaurant tenant holding 5,000 square feet, the property was virtually vacant at the time of sale, which allows the new ownership an opportunity to rebrand and reconfigure the existing space. "The property has been maintained to a high standard and has never previously been available to the open market for office leasing," said Tony Fusco, head of Real Estate at Olayan America.

550 Madison Avenue was designed by architect Philip Johnson and partner John Burgee and was completed in 1984. The building stood in stark contrast to the boxy glass-and-metal towers that had sprung up in Midtown Manhattan since the 1950s featuring a number of ornamental flourishes, from its granite cladding and "Chippendale" roof line to its brass and marble finishes on the interior.

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Willis Tower Sold for $1.3B to Blackstone

Blackstone and 233 South Wacker LLC announced that they had signed a definitive agreement for Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII to acquire the second tallest building in the country, the Willis Tower in Chicago, for $1.3 billion. The sellers of the 110-story skyscraper, formerly known as Sears Tower, are a group including New York-based investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian, and American Landmark Properties Ltd. They paid $841 million for the tower in 2004, while Blackstone's purchase price of $1.3 billion is, according to Crain's Chicago Business, set to become the highest ever paid for a U.S. office building outside Manhattan. Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured LLC was the broker for the sale to Blackstone. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are bullish on Chicago as companies expand within and move into the city and look for first-class office space," Blackstone managing director Jacob Werner said in a statement. "We see great potential in further improving both the building's retail operations and the tourist experience for one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Chicago."

The Willis Tower is a 3.8 million square-foot office building in downtown Chicago and, at 110 stories, is the second-tallest office building in the United States and the fifth-tallest office building in the world. The building also features a top Chicago tourist attraction in the Skydeck on the 103rd floor, which provides 1.6 million visitors per year with unmatched views of Chicago and the surrounding area including from the "Ledge", glass cubes which extend from the building. The New York-based company plans to spend as much as $150 million to improve the tower's retail portion and 103rd-floor observatory, according to a Boston Globe article.

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Developers Make Moves on Miami Riverwalk

Chetrit Group, the New York-based real estate investment and development firm led by Joseph Chetrit, has purchased 6.2 acres of real estate with Miami developer Ari Pearl with plans to build a major mixed-use development called Miami Riverwalk. According to a Miami Herald article, Miami-Dade property records show that CG Miami River, led by Chetrit Group and Pearl, bought the Finnegan's River property at 401 S.W. Third Ave. for $11.5 million, from Ocean Drive Clevelander.

The development is planned for a three-block area bordered on the north by the river, on the south by Southwest Seventh Street, on the west by Southwest Third Avenue and on the east by Southwest Second Avenue. The Miami Riverwalk, to be designed by Miami architect Kobi Karp, will create a major mixed-use development along the Miami River to include four 60-story condo towers with a combined 1,749 units, plus a marina and hotel, retail space and offices. Plans are still not finalized and will be revised within the month. Renderings of the project can be viewed here.

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North America's Tallest Building Up for Sale/Investment

The Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly known as the Sears Tower and North America's tallest building, is on the block according to the Wall Street Journal as the owners are reportedly looking to recapitalize or sell the property. The owners of the property, Chicago's American Landmark Properties Ltd, New York Developers Joseph Moinian of the Moinian Group and Joseph Chetrit of the Chetrit Group, originally purchased the building for $900 million, or about $244 a square foot, in 2004. The building carries $780 million of debt on it said sources.

Completed May 3, 1973, Willis Tower stands 1,450 feet tall and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Chicago skyline . The building held the record for the world’s tallest building for 25 years until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia were built in 1998. The 3.8 million square foot tower was designed by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Sears, Roebuck & Company. The building was renamed to Willis Tower in 2009 when UK insurer Willis Group Holdings leased 140,000 square feet at $14.50 per square foot. Watch an Associated Press video report on the marketing of the tower here.

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